The Little Things
by ChibiFrubaGirl
Summary: [Riku] [oneshot, dedicated to Namikun] And yet... There's hope. Despite it all, there's still hope.[strong language] [Axel and Riku friendship: No pairings]


**Pre-Author's Note:** Thrown together very quickly, slightly pointless… Yeah. I'm warning you now though, there's a lot of swearing in here and it's mostly bolded too so… If your parents might look over your shoulder… Yeah. I warned you.

**Song:** If Everyone Care

**Disclaimer:** Last night, when the idea for this story came to me, I thought of something really funny and witty to write as the Disclaimer… But now I can't remember… Oh well… This is the problem with thinking up stories late at night…

-**:Screw Reality:**-

"Someone called me a **'flying shit-head'** today."

Axel looks up from his newspaper and eyes Riku passively as the silver haired teen walks into his apartment, "Is that so?"

Riku nods affirmatively, "Yeah, it was on the bus… I'm still not sure what I did to **upset** them so much…" He pauses, perhaps waiting for Axel to comment, "Another guy in school called me **stupid** when I asked the teacher a question about what we were learning."

Axel doesn't say anything.

Riku sighs and continues, "He said I was **stupid**, just because I was trying to understand the subject…" Riku's eyes travel around Axel's apartment before he presses onward, "Then another girl in the class said, 'It's not our fault you're a **freaky nerd**.'"

Riku waits for Axel to respond, the red head merely hums thoughtfully.

"Then everyone started **yelling** and **screaming** at each other for the rest of the period," Riku concludes, hanging is head a little in the hopes that Axel will offer some sympathy.

"Anything else?" asks the older male disinterestedly as he continues flipping through his paper, barely pausing to take in each page.

Riku eyes Axel coldly, "Yeah, actually, there is," he takes a deep breath, "I saw Sora and Kairi fighting outside of the school… Apparently some guys had called her a **slut** and Sora didn't say anything to stop them. So Kairi called Sora a **'shitty boyfriend'**, then she slapped him, called him a **bastard**, and left him standing there."

"That's too **bad**," says Axel, his eyes fixed on an article about a **bombing** in some foreign country. Riku narrows his eyes at the back of Axel's head.

"I called my mom," Riku declares, and it is now evident that he's waiting for Axel to recognize that all the things Riku is saying are all **horrible** and that poor, poor Riku has just had an** awful** day.

But all Axel does is raise his eyebrows a little and asks lightly, "How'd that go?"  
Riku scoffs irritably, "She called me a **fag **and a **heathen**, then she went on to inform me that I was going **straight to hell**. Next thing I know, she's saying that she shouldn't even be corresponding with me because it's **bad enough** she even gave birth to me."

"Sounds like she wants to get into _heaven_," said Axel, turning to an article about a man who had **strangled** his wife and daughter.

Riku bites his lip, itching to say more, but then he thinks better of it and slumps against Axel's wall, sighing wearily. Finally Axel folds his newspaper and turns in his seat to look at Riku's slumped form.

"Alright," he says, "what's bothering you? Why are you telling me about all this **crap**?"

"I'm sick of it Axel," says Riku after a long pause, "the whole world, all of it. Everything's so **sickeningly shitty** and everyone's so **cruel**. Morals are **corrupted by television**, it doesn't matter what my mom does. She's going to **hell**. We all are. The whole world's just going to **hell in a basket**."

Axel eyes Riku pensively before walking over to him and pulling him upward by the arm, "C'mon," he says gruffly dragging Riku to his apartment's balcony.

"Your problem," says Axel, pointing at Riku, "is that you're looking at the big picture."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Riku snidely.

"Well think about it," said Axel, "the world's a **fucked up** place." He smirks lightly at the taken aback look on Riku's face.

"So," said Riku slowly, eyeing Axel calculatingly, "if you think it's so **horrible** and stuff… What keeps you going? What keeps you alive?"

Axel thinks over this for a moment. Then a small smile graces his lips.

"_The little things_," he says simply. Riku stares.

Axel gestures around at the view of the city his balcony provides, "Look around… What do you see?"

Riku blinks, startled for a moment by Axel's command, "Well I-…" He takes in the city, the street below them, the people…

"There's a lot of cars, and **smog**, which will only lead to more **global warming**," begins Riku, uncertainly.

"Go on," prompts Axel gently.

Riku looks some more, "There's a police officer giving someone a ticket… A group of teenagers **smoking**, and **no one's stopping them**. Some guy is **yelling** at someone on his cell phone… People are **honking** their cars and **insulting** each other," Riku looks at Axel. He really has no idea where the red head is going with this, "Is this supposed to make me feel better about life in general?"

Axel folds his arms over the railing of his balcony and leans forward, "When you look at the world and really take it all in" he began with his eyes closed peacefully, "you can't help but see how **seriously screwed** everything is. It seems like everywhere you go there's **fighting** and **yelling** and **screaming**… It's **awful**.

These days, scenes and places where nothing is **cruel** and **unjust**… Things like that are rare. They shouldn't be, but they are. It's very hard to find anything that is just _purely nice_ in life nowadays."

As he concludes this he pushes back off the railing and grins at Riku, "That's why you have to focus on the _small things_ that WILL make you _happy_. The little moments where you're _laughing_ and _smiling_, and they're _laughing_ and _smiling_ and everything is just… _Nice_. Moments like those are rare, but you have to find them and hold on to them."

Riku looks torn between **yelling** and _smiling_, "So that's it, is it?" he asks, his voice trembles, his hands shake and it is now evident that he's resisting the urge to **scream**, "That's your solution to all this **fucked up shit**?"

"Well," Axel thinks it over; he shrugs, "yeah. There's really not much you can do, Riku. It's part of human nature to be a **prick**."

Riku doesn't say anything. He stands there for many minutes, staring at Axel hard. It's almost like he's waiting for the older man to give him some other explanation. Something more _cheerful_. Riku had initially gone to him because he'd figured Axel would sympathize and cheer him up.

Instead, Axel had basically told him that life and humankind was **doomed** by a **society** that could **never be fixed**.

Finally, after time significantly stretches, and Riku has played Axel's words over and over in his head… Riku leaves. He turns and runs out the door, and though his face is emotionless, Axel can sense Riku's hopes tumbling down.

The red headed man sighs wearily and scratches the back of his neck. When his cat, Fufu, comes up from behind him and arches against his leg he looks down at Fufu and smiles sadly.

"Well," he says, picking Fufu up and still staring at her with that same sad expression, "I tried. But I don't think he liked my answer…"

Fufu's eyes narrow and she makes a noise as if to tell Axel that what he said to Riku was most certainly NOT encouraging, considering the situation. Axel frowns at her.

"Hey it's not my fault," he protests, "What could I tell him? That life isn't as bad as he thinks? I don't know, he hit the nail on the head there. **Life sucks**," here Axel pauses to chuckle, "I hope he's not taking it too hard though…"

Fufu purrs loudly as Axel scratches her head.

"It's **terrible** isn't it?" asks Axel softly, the sky is darkening outside. It's getting late. Axel walks out onto his balcony, Fufu still held securely in his arms, "It really is **terrible**. How **mean** people can be…" Axel looks down at Fufu, who has abandoned her perch in his arms.

"People say that there are TV shows that are i**nappropriate** or **horrible** on TV," he murmurs aloud, "but if you think about it… The stuff people can read about in the news… It's **much worse** than anything a television producer could think of," he laughs.

"People spend… So much time arguing over whether or not a show or a book is **inappropriate**… But really, reality is **more inappropriate** than any of that. **Bombs** that **kill **millions of people, teachers **raping** their students, **serial killers** on the loose, family members turning on each other for **money**… Would you find any of that on TV? No. But you'd easily find it in the paper. It's ironic, really."

Fufu is curled up comfortably and flicking her tail to and fro, perhaps considering Axel's opinions. The man smirks at her.

What both man and cat don't know is that somewhere across the city, there are two gangs currently engaged in a huge **fight**. One of the hooded boys has just been **stabbed** through the chest with a blade…

…Somewhere in China, a man is **dieing** of AIDS.

…In Chicago a girl is having her first sexual encounter in a bar. She **isn't even old enough** to be drinking though.

…A family is coming home to find that their home has been **burglarized** and **ransacked**. Shelves are upturned and they're going to suffer huge financial **losses**.

…A junior high student is **pregnant** with the child of the boy who just **dumped her** for some other **pre-mature slut**.

…And yet, despite all that, in spite of all that… Somewhere in Mexico, there is a six year old girl with dark dazzling eyes and wispy strands of ebony hair, who just got a puppy for her birthday.

And that little girl, is very happy.

**Author's Note:** So I was soaking in my misery and decided to write a semi-political piece. It's basically just bashing society in general, but this is the result of my current sadness. I'll say it again, I'm feeling very dejected right now folks. I only hope I haven't spread my misery to all of you with this fic.

I also hope that none of you got in trouble for all the bolded profanities.

Reviews are appreciated.

bliss- well… Not really, no.


End file.
